'Smurfing' suspect charged in Germaine Road fire

February 14, 2018News Extra

A purported meth lab “cook” recently popped up on law enforcement radar.

Investigators were locked on William E. Burke, 38, of Winfield Township, who they suspect was “smurfing,” that is, using others to buy Sudafed pills from pharmacies.

The medicine, a must-have for meth-makers, was turned over to Burke. He was using it, authorities believe, for a “one pot” or “shake and bake” portable — and potentially volatile — methamphetamine lab in Butler Township.

Just two weeks after state and county narcotics officers began investigating Burke, he was badly burned in a fire Feb. 3 that destroyed a home on typically peaceful Germaine Road.

From the confines of a Pittsburgh hospital, investigators said, he later admitted the fire started while he was cooking up the synthetic stimulant.